There have been a lot of brands coming out in the last couple weeks with changes they're making with the intention treating our environment a little better. And now straws are on their way out.
Both Starbucks and McDonald's have announced they'll be phasing out "single-use plastic straws". For both brands the unique straw designs (green and gold and red striped respectively) have been icons of their brands for years. If you saw someone drinking anything out of a clear cup with a green straw, you know they made a Starbucks run. But with companies opting out of plastic straws and some communities banning them, these brands do need to think about what you'll be sipping from next.
Starbucks is moving to a plastic lid for cold beverages, a bigger clear version of the white lid on their hot cups. And if you're asking yourself, like I was why a large plastic lid may be the answer: according to this article on delish.com, plastic straws can be recycled however they "can literally slip through the cracks when going through the recycling process." Whereas McDonalds is opting to test a compostable version of their iconic straw, one that would break down on it's own when it winds up in a landfill. It'll be interesting to which options customers favor.
